The prior art includes U. S. Pat. No. 163,404, issued May 18, 1875, to O. D. Phillips for an IMPLEMENT FOR LOADING FIREARMS. This patent, in general, discloses a cylinder rotatably mounted on a base, the cylinder having elongated openings or barrels, each adapted to be charged with powder, ball and wad. The cylinders may be respectively aligned with an opening in the base and the bore of the gun barrel, so that the powder, ball and wad may be transferred to the gun bore.
The Phillips construction, however, lacked many refinements that would make it a usable item in this period of time. Phillips shows six elongated openings or barrels in the cylinder, but one is useless because it cannot be filled with powder since one opening is always axially aligned with the opening in the base and the powder would escape through the base opening. In contrast, my invention provides one elongated opening with a closed inner end so that when this opening is aligned with the base opening, the other openings are temporarily closed by the upper surface of the base. The closed-end opening provides storage for powder or tools, so it has additional utility.
Further, Phillips has no provision for storing percussion caps. Therefore, any time that could be gained by quick transfer of powder, ball and wad to the muzzle of the rifle is defeated by time lost in handling and arranging the percussion caps.
A percussion cap is a small metal cap coated on the inside with an explosive substance. Once the gun is loaded with black powder and ball, one percussion cap is placed over a small tube, called a "nipple", which is located at the breech end of the rifle barrel. This tube leads into the breech end of the barrel where the black powder is packed in place. When the gun trigger is pulled, the hammer is released to strike the cap disposed on the nipple and cause the explosive substance within the cap to explode and send a small flame down through the nipple and into the gun barrel to ignite the main charge.
Percussion caps are very small and difficult to handle and thus much time is spent in seating a cap on a nipple. My invention further provides a cap seal that not only increases the overall size of the cap (making it easier to handle) but seals the nipple/cap interface region to greatly increase the chance of complete ignition. In the case of my improved loading device, a plurality of recesses are formed, each to receive and releasably hold a sealed percussion cap. The construction is such that once the sealed caps are disposed within respective recesses, they need be handled no longer, since the loading device may be grasped by the hand of a user and manipulated to arrange a sealed cap onto the gun nipple. The sealed caps may be used independently of my quick-load device and in either use the seal helps hold the percussion cap in place and seals out troublesome moisture. Other features and advantages of my invention will become evident, from a consideration of the disclosure to follow.